On account of magnetic and electrical coupling between two contact pairs, one contact pair induces a current in neighboring contact pairs, or influences electrical charges, thereby producing crosstalk. In order to avoid near-end crosstalk, the contact pairs can be arranged very far away from one another or a shield can be arranged between the contact pairs. However, if it is necessary to arrange the contact pairs structurally very close together, the measures described above cannot be implemented and the near-end crosstalk must be compensated for.
A known method for reducing near-end crosstalk in plugs is compensation downstream of the plug contacts. This is done by deliberate additional coupling which, however, in contrast to the coupling in the contact region, constitutes a component in antiphase and consequently reduces the overall crosstalk. For this purpose, a pair of leads is deliberately transposed downstream of the plug contact, with the result that an additional coupling in antiphase is effected downstream of the crossover point. Alternatively, as disclosed in EP 0525703, the compensation can be effected by additional discreet capacitors downstream of the plug contact. The disadvantage of this compensation method is that the contact length and the distance between the center of the contact and the compensation location impose a physical limit for high frequencies on the scope of the compensation, with the result that this type of compensation has only limited applicability for relatively high transmission rates.